Equipment & Facilities
We are a highly multidisciplinary group that utilizes a combination of natural products chemistry, synthetic biology, protein engineering, enzymology, structural biology, bioinformatics, and microbiology to discover new chemistry and compounds.
Protein Purification
An ÄKTA Go chromatography system with a fraction collector supports protein purification workflows including nickel affinity, ion exchange, and size exclusion chromatography for biochemical and enzymology applications.
DNA and Protein Visualization
The lab is equipped with DNA and protein electrophoresis systems, a gel transilluminator, and pulsed-field gel electrophoresis (PFGE) instrumentation to support routine molecular biology, genome analysis, cloning, and protein characterization workflows.
Analytical LC-MS
The lab’s analytical LC-MS platform combines high-performance liquid chromatography with single-quadrupole mass spectrometry to support natural product discovery, compound characterization, reaction monitoring, dereplication, and analytical method development workflows.
Semi-Prep HPLC
A semi-preparative HPLC system with automated fraction collection supports purification of natural products, metabolites, and synthetic compounds for downstream biological testing and structural characterization. A second semi-preparative system is shared with other labs.
Concentration Capabilities
With three rotovaps, a lyophilizer, and a SpeedVac, the lab can efficiently process and concentrate samples ranging from microbial extracts to purified compounds, helping accelerate natural product discovery and characterization.
Biosafety Cabinets
With two biosafety cabinets and a BSL2-compliant laboratory space, the lab supports safe handling of environmental isolates, bacterial pathogens, and microbial cultures for microbiology, synthetic biology, and natural product discovery workflows.
Chemical Fume Hoods
With nine chemical fume hoods distributed throughout the laboratory, the lab supports parallel synthetic chemistry, natural product isolation, analytical preparation, and microbiological workflows in a safe and flexible research environment.
Incubators & Shakers
With three stationary incubators, seven shaking incubators, and a BSL2-compliant laboratory space, the lab supports microbial cultivation ranging from small-scale experiments to larger fermentation workflows, with a max culture capacity of nearly 30 liters.
DNA Amplification
The lab is equipped with multiple thermocyclers and an Implen nanophotometer to support DNA amplification, cloning, sequencing preparation, and nucleic acid quantification for molecular biology and synthetic biology workflows.
Media Preparation
The lab has well-organized chemical storage and preparation space, along with pH meters and analytical balances.
Departmental Mass Spec
The lab has access to the FSU MASS Lab, including advanced instrumentation such as the Bruker timsTOF fleX platform for high-resolution mass spectrometry, MALDI analysis, and imaging applications supporting natural products, metabolomics, and biomolecular characterization.
Departmental NMR
The lab has access to the FSU Chemistry NMR Facility, which houses multiple high-field Bruker instruments, including a 700 MHz NMR spectrometer equipped with a cryoprobe for enhanced sensitivity in small molecule and biomolecular characterization.
